Search Results for: International law

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ALAN OSBORN AND PHILIP FINE

THE EUROPEAN Union, the United States and their various allies seem to be moving towards a deal at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) negotiations over the creation of a global register for protected geographical indications in the wine and spirit trade.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE AMERICAN Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI) is urging its government to take action against Indonesia’s ban on textile imports from all countries. The ATMI said the move flies in the face of international rules and its chairman, Van May, says a fair response would be for the United States to immediately prohibit all imports of Indonesian textile goods which totalled US$350 million last year, until the ban is lifted.…

BY PHILIP FINE

A CONSULTANT for the California wine industry thinks the US will be prepared to cut a deal at next September’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico over European demands for a mandatory wine and spirits register of geographical indications.…

Keith Nuthall
A CONSULTANT for the California wine industry thinks the US will be prepared to cut a deal at next September’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico over European demands for a mandatory wine and spirits register of geographical indications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT might seem a long way from South Hams District Council’s public tendering process to world trade negotiations in Geneva, but thanks to the globalisation process that upsets so many protesters with metal rods stuck through their noses, the two are actually closely related.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HALF-HEARTED efforts by European Union Member States to impose controls on shabby shipping have been blamed for the disastrous sinking of the ill-named Prestige oil tanker, off Galicia, Spain. Placing on record their disgust at the environmental tragedy, the Council of Europe’s environment committee deplored “the negligence of governments and their lack of any real determination to provide themselves with the means of preventing such disasters – or at least minimising their impact.”…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A FORMER president of the Thai Leather Goods Association has said that the Thailand leather industry has to improve its designs to more effectively compete globally. Sunanta Wuthisakul said that this would build upon the standard product quality of local manufacturers, which in general “currently met international standards,” notably those of the big brands which use Thai leather.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONSERVATIONISTS have welcomed a controversial United Nations (UN) report identifying wealthy western companies allegedly involved in wartime projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) they say may endanger rare great apes.

It says Barclays Bank, diamonds giant De Beers, British mining corporation Anglo American, Belgian bankers Fortis, South African miners Iscor, and the United Arab Emirates’ Standard Chartered Bank and 79 other companies have broken OECD multinational good behaviour guidelines by their association with mining, logging or road building in the Congo.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEW rules affecting the operations and supervision of multi-national groups of companies in the EU will come into force shortly following agreement by the European Parliament today (Wednesday) of the Financial Conglomerates Directive; MEP’s accepted the latest draft approved by EU ministers, clearing the last hurdle preventing it becoming European law.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation of the World Bank is to invest US$35 million in Pakistan’s Dewan Salman Fibre Ltd, the largest producer of polyester staple fibre in the country. The money – a senior loan of US$30 million, a convertible loan of US$4 million, and a US$1million participation in a convertible preferred stock issue – will help the company expand its polyester staple fibre capacity by adding a specialty fibre line of 20,000 tonnes per annum, refinancing debt, and funding its need for permanent working capital.…